To the End of the Desert
by Haryn-kid
Summary: This story follows Haru's journey through the desert. (Based on the beautiful Free! ED. Rin x Haru, mostly. AU! Rated M for later chapters.)
1. Through the Desert

_(Warning! This story contains almost-rape, sexual themes, swearing, and... what else. Possible character death? I'm thinking about that._

_Anyway, some mature content ahead. Proceed with caution!)_

* * *

Far in the distance, a beast roared, tearing its way through the desert. Sand was flung across the desert with its every movement, disappearing from old dunes to form new hills of sand. Azure-colored sky disappeared, bit by bit, with its arrival; it steadily and speedily advanced toward and devoured everything in its path. Yet Haru stayed where he was; this was something he could never outrun by foot. Even if his camel had not been loaded down, Haru believed that even his faithful, surefooted companion could never escape this.

He could only prepare for the worst.

The scorching winds picked up, tossing sand into his covered face and shooting blasts of heat at his bare torso. Lines of grit whipped at the burned skin that Haru could not completely protect from the destructive forces of nature. Huddling closer to the shield that was one camel and its load, he placed his fingers on the cloth stretched over his nose and mouth and squeezed his eyes shut.

The beast roared again, louder and closer this time.

"A sandstorm," he muttered into his scarf, feeling thick, woolly fur press against the side of his head. With its legs tucked underneath its large body, the camel formed a sort of a wall around Haru, ready to protect him from the worst. He could not hear himself over the howling of the wind. A tingle of trepidation shot down his spine, and instinctively he reached upward and tugged his hood down lower over his eyes. "We'll be fine."

The camel's flank heaved once in a snort lost to the wind. Haru buried his face in the crook of his arm and clutched at the camel's fur with his other hand, just as a whirlwind of sand and darkness enveloped them both.

* * *

It lasted maybe two hours, three. It felt like days had passed before the wild winds stopped slashing at any exposed skin so fiercely. All Haru knew for sure was that during those few hours the dry patch on the back of his tongue seemed to have enlarged, as did the distance between him and the next town. After the winds settled and the ropes of sand had returned to the desert floor, Haru tried to stand. Sand that had caked in thick layers on his clothes and skin tumbled back down in a shower of beige.

Haru rose unsteadily, and put a foot forward.

His legs gave way. His arms stretched forward in time and he caught himself, leaning heavily against the camel's side. Had it not risen to its feet moments ago, Haru might have toppled right over its neck and he did not know if he'd be able to get up again then.

_Let's go_, he thought rather than said; the thick parchedness at the back of his throat made it impossible to even swallow, much less speak. He fumbled a moment for the rope around the camel's neck and held it within a trembling hand. Resisting the urge to check, for the umpteenth time, whether they had any more water, Haru wound his fingers through the brown fur and braced himself for the next hundreds of thousands of who knew how many miles ahead.

One plodding steadily forward, the other stumbling and swaying in lame attempts to keep himself upright, they made their slow progress through the desert, underneath the white hot sun. There was not a single cloud to offer some protection from the deadly rays. Haru cursed the sky and everything in this godforsaken place.

Their destination was Kahsald, a large town about three day's walk away from the last one they were in. Haru was certain that the sun had already risen and set five times since he first set foot on the desert that lay between the towns; he had counted and recounted every morning, hoping against all hope that he would see some sign of human life at the horizon. He never did.

The only living things around them was the occasional desert creature, popping up for a second, scuttling across the barren earth, only to scurry back into the ground again. His sole companions were his camel and their shadows, chasing them at dusk and pulling away from them at dawn.

Only ever-shifting sand dunes and hours of agonizing thirst and hunger lay ahead. Their limited water supply had already run out and Haru could feel his body deteriorating, the process speeding up with every moment that went by. His breaths left his mouth in ragged pants.

_I may die here after all._

On what Haru believed to be the sixth day, previously assumed lost hope made its appearance once more. He saw a pool of something shimmery just a short distance away. It seemed to stretch on ahead for miles, and glinted tantalizingly, tempting his frail body forward. _Come and quench your thirst, _it sang to him. _Drink as much as you'd like. Experience pure bliss, just a meter ahead, less than a meter, right here..._

When he reached out with his hand, he could almost feel the cold touch of the water on his skin and the pain within his throat intensified. _Water_, he thought, his blood pounding unnaturally loudly in his ears, _water water water water_.

The next step forward brought his knees to the ground. He scrabbled around the sand, grit wedging underneath his fingernails and clinging to his pants. _Water water water water_, the word chimed within his mind with each labored breath, and painfully, slowly, he dragged himself forward. The camel's rope had slipped out of his hands in the fall but he could not care less at the moment.

_I can still survive. _Haru's eyes were mere slits, his vision blurred by the endless stream of sweat and the sun's blazing rays. The pool that would put an end to his suffering wavered and flickered, sometimes even vanishing for a few seconds, but Haru pressed on. His knees dug into the sand and his elbows scraped across the scorched surface. The scarf wound around his face loosened and his makeshift hood fell away, revealing a very tan, very flushed face, and feverish eyes. _I can still..._

Haru's hand trembled violently as it flew clumsily forward, plunging into the body of water. He scooped it up as best as he could with shaking fingers and brought it to his cracked lips.

The sensation on his tongue confused him. His thirst was not quenched and his throat rejected the water, gagging at its texture and hacking it back up. His teeth crunched when he clenched his jaws and tiny grains fell from his mouth. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, so powerful that his vision blackened for a second and he swayed on the spot. His fingers had felt the roughness of the sand but his mind was still lost to the beautiful deception it had created by itself.

A mirage, he vaguely remembered it being called. Haru turned his face to the side and spat what remained of the sand out in disgust and crushing disappointment.

* * *

Haru was convinced that this night in the desert would be his last. Too long had passed since he last tasted water. Ages since he'd seen another human being. An eternity until he saw either again.

His legs refused to cooperate by the time the sun touched the tip of a far-off sand dune. They quivered uncontrollably, once, twice, and then collapsed. The blisters on his feet screamed for his attention and forced him to stay as he was when he tried to get up. The baked sand burned into his skin from below, and the sinking sun from above.

He tried to swallow, but his tongue filled and stuck to the inside of his mouth and his throat had closed up. His head flopped back onto the sand.

Haru gave up.

Without shifting from the fetal position he had fallen into, he fumbled with the strap around his waist. Once that was loosened and his knife was set aside, he eased his pants down over his hips and waited. A thin trickle of ugly, dark brown liquid stained the ground. He stared at the few drops, eyes clouded with despair and dark, fuzzy spots that never went away now, no matter how many times he blinked. His body was failing quickly. Coherent thoughts were near impossible to form and clear urine was something of the distant past.

There might not have been enough liquid left within his body for tears, but Haru still had to close his eyes and grit his teeth to stop himself from weeping.

* * *

When he opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the night sky. It was splattered with silver stars and glistened and shimmered, not unlike water. In the very center of it all, the white sliver that was the moon smiled down at him. A wave of dizziness hit him and the smile vanished behind a torrent of swarming black spots. Within the haze that formed from sleep deprivation, exposure to excess heat, and malnourishment, his mind conjured a single thought:

_I want to swim in a river of stars._

* * *

He more felt than saw the light of the new day fall once more upon the endless stretch of desert and the lone, dying traveller that lay upon it. A single ray warmed a spot on his cheek, but Haru's other side was still cold. Where the camel's fuzzy flank had once occupied now held nothing but air.

The sense of abandonment hit him harder than he had anticipated. So he was to die, and alone too, in a place where his body would rot quietly, forever lost to the desert. Something about that made him feel despondent. He could at least hope for one last thing: his camel's safety and that a good life lay ahead of it. Haru himself was not to have such luxuries. He passed a dusty hand over his eyes with some difficulty and strained to gaze upward.

The sky was trembling, rippling like a pool of water did when a leaf landed delicately onto its shining surface. It stilled and then the next leaf landed, shaking dark blue out of the sky and allowing pale pink to creep in. A great red sphere entered Haru's line of sight and the sky burned crimson, a hue so rich and vibrant that it shone right through the dark blotches in his vision and made his faint heartbeat jump a little harder.

Haru thought it looked ethereal.

* * *

The rising sun signified a new day. Another beginning.

For him, it was the end.

He did not want to go back to sleep, but invisible weights fell over his eyes and forced them closed anyway. Haru was glad that he'd at least caught a glimpse of something beautiful before the inevitable.

* * *

Haru had never wondered if there was a god. These so-called deities did not fill his stomach. Sitting at a rug and touching his head to the floor in prayer did not slake his constant thirst. The harsh environment he had been thrown in gave him little opportunity to consider anything else but survival.

Others he'd grown up around prayed. They pleaded with their divine beings for a better harvest this year. The crops failed to grow bountifully. Their only way of treating the ill was to beg daily for the sickness to pass. The diseases took their friends and family anyway.

There was a man back in the village he used to live in, someone that he might have considered to be a close friend of his, even something like a father figure. Some commented that he was lucky to have lived a long life and died at a relatively old age, despite the many troubles and burdens that he had had to bear.

Haru hated hearing that.

The old man did not go to death quietly. Every night Haru heard his rattling breath and bouts of wheezing, sometimes going on for so long that Haru feared it would never stop.

Haru received a shake of the gray-haired head every time he offered food or the last sip of water they had left. The elder had insisted that Haru needed it more than he did. Haru never said anything, but he was sure the actual reason his offers were declined every time was because the dying man's body could no longer function as it was supposed to.

Dying old the way he had was nothing to gloat about.

Then, one day, Haru prayed for the first time. He was not sure how it was supposed to go, having never done it before, but he got on his knees and imagined the ache leaving the old man's bones, and the color returning to his cheeks. In Haru's mind's eye, he could walk again without needing anyone's help. He ate and drank as properly as their environment would allow. He smiled and had the energy and breath to laugh again.

Haru remained like that for the rest of the day, ignoring the protests of his stomach when evening fell.

The next day, Haru found the old man's body growing cold, seated upon the chair that he rarely left in his last days.

Haru never tried to spiritually connect with something that was not there again.

Yet when a shadow glided across the desert and fell over him, shielding him momentarily from the morning light, he could have sworn that was an otherworldly being sent from above to fetch him. The shadow of the outstretched arms swooped toward him like wings taking flight. Strong, warm arms scooped him up as easily as if he was a child, carrying him away, swift as the wind. The hands supporting him kept his head from lolling backward, instead cradling it close to a firm chest. The heart within that chest thudded rapidly but steadily, unlike his own, which only slowed and weakened with every passing minute. Haru was vaguely reminded of the camel. A hairless, humanoid camel. The hazy image that floated through his mind was almost comical but no laughter could squeeze past the narrow gap in his throat.

The arms around him tightened their hold, as if afraid to let him fall. Haru felt himself being jostled - a disturbance in the smooth flow, the first one. The heart beside his ear beat faster.

_Where are we going? _

He could not ask the question and therefore did not receive an answer, but he did not mind.

He liked to think that they were flying to a place where rivers never ran dry and pools dotted every available surface. Sand was nonexistent and starlight made the water shine. It made him feel a little more comfortable about the prospect of death. He would have smiled, but his facial muscles were slack and did not respond to the command his weary brain tried to send.

It probably would have hurt if he had managed it.

_We're almost there_, he thought he heard.

He told himself that he was not scared.

* * *

(_A/N: Hello, dear readers! Just a by the way, Rin will be mentioned in the earlier chapters but won't be showing up until much later. And by 'much later' I mean around thirteen or so chapters later. So please please please be patient. I know, I want to write all about him asap too, but that'll have to wait 'cause I'm evil and that's how the story goes. Indulge in the very slight Haru x everyone else if you can't wait for our beloved redhead's appearance in this story. That's all! Enjoy!)_


	2. The Merchant

_(A/N: I made the towns' names up, obviously. Just thought I should mention that. Okay, enjoy this chapter!)_

* * *

The sensation was so long-forgotten that Haru could not label it at first, but it made him feel better. So much better. Strength returned to his limbs in a warm rush and the barricade closing up his throat cleared.

Without bothering to open his eyes, the upper part of Haru's body bolted up and forward. His hands groped wildly for the canteen that held the precious liquid and, once they latched onto it, wrenched it toward him and deposited all of what it contained down his throat.

_Water water water,_ he thought, over and over again, and this time he was sure that it was not a mere illusion. The sweet liquid dribbling down the sides of his mouth when it overflowed was all too real to be something his mind had created. Water rolled in beads along the curve of his neck, disappearing underneath his loosely wrapped scarf. It was lukewarm and speckled with dust, but Haru barely noticed and did not release the container. He drained it of every last drop with some loud coughing and much contented sighing. The bit that did not make its way to his tongue and down his throat rested instead on heated skin.

To be drunk on water was a sensation that not even the finest wine could match.

Pure bliss was not enough to describe how Haru felt then. He tipped the container all the way back so that it hung upside down above his mouth, shaking it desperately, craving for more.

"... I'm so glad I saw you when I did," Haru was vaguely aware of someone speaking, too distracted by this new find to pay much attention to anything else. "I was so scared… I thought you were dead."

Haru ignored the voice. He heard a snort, a sound similar to what his camel often made, but he ignored that too.

"... just in time," Haru heard not long afterward, swiping his tongue around the inside of his mouth. Never had his mouth felt so moist; never had his mind felt so lucid.

A hand settled on his shoulder, and someone else's fingers pried the water canteen from his trembling ones. Haru's eyes snapped open and they flickered uncontrollably from side to side, only to find a kind face smiling back at him. Blue eyes, darkened with frenzy, met warm, merry ones.

"There's no more water," the stranger said gently, setting the canteen aside. Despite his words, Haru's gaze drifted continuously to the canteen, staring at it with undisguised desire. He could just see all the water sloshing around inside, much like how liquid was churning in his belly now. It was not a very comfortable sensation but Haru had never felt better in his life.

"That was the last of it," said the man again, sounding almost apologetic, as if it was somehow his fault that they had no water left. "You'll have to wait until we get back to town to get more. Luckily, though, it's not far off." His tone brightened at this last bit of information.

Haru rubbed at his eyes with his dusty knuckles, disappointed. "Town…" he echoed, surprised by the sound of his own voice after such a long period of silence. He wet the sides of his mouth with his tongue, trying to recreate the refreshing touch of the water. It did little to satisfy him. He fidgeted. "Which one?"

The stranger lifted his hand and pointed at a spot in the distance. If Haru squinted, he could make out the blurred outline of what appeared to be a town. His pulse quickened. "Sayli," the other answered, and as hard as Haru tried to locate it in his mental map, he was drawing a blank.

He wished he had more water.

He thought about his original destination. "Is that near Kahsald?"

The man thought about it for a moment. "I wouldn't say it's close, but it's not far either," he answered at last, rising to his feet and dusting himself off. "Here, can you stand?" he added, picking up the now empty canteen and storing it safely away in one of the camel's loads. He reached out to help Haru up.

"I can get up by myself," he retorted, pushing his hands into the ground behind him and struggling to raise his body into a crouch. His feet scuffled underneath him. "It's fine," he insisted when the stranger reached out again. Lurching forward, he realized that his legs still hadn't seemed to regain complete function yet. They wobbled uncertainly when he tried to take a step forward.

"Let's go," he started to say, only to find himself tipping to the side. _Come on, you know how to _walk, _don't you? _he mentally snapped at himself, willing complete strength to flow back to his legs. His feet seared with unhealed cuts and blisters and his muscles whined for rest.

"Don't be so stubborn." The stranger's lips twitched in a hint of an amused smile and before Haru could even try to move away, an arm looped around his waist, providing the support that Haru needed more than he would have ever admitted. Now that they stood side by side, Haru could easily see just how much taller the other was. The man grabbed for the rope around his camel's neck and guided Haru forward. "There we go."

He preferred not having body contact with anyone else, even if it was to help him, but Haru gave in. He threw his arm over the stranger's neck and began hobbling forward. The other man shortened his strides and slowed even more when necessary, letting his camel proceed onward a few paces ahead of them, but Haru still found himself struggling to drag his feet across the sand. Eventually he gritted his teeth and just let the much stronger, much healthier man pull him along.

"So, why Kahsald?"

Haru answered after a second of silence, keeping his head down instead of looking at the stranger when he spoke. "Going to visit some friends."

"I see," the man said, swiping the back of his hand, the one holding the rope, over his face. Haru suspected that the movement was made more to hide a knowing smile than to wipe off sweat. "Well, you should at least rest a bit before heading off."

_No, I think I'll just run off into the desert the way I am now, thank you very much, _Haru thought. He kept quiet.

"I own a shop there," the stranger continued, nodding at the smudge of black on the horizon, which was slowly but surely growing larger. "You can stay with me, if you'd like."

Since he did not exactly have anywhere else to go for the moment, Haru gave a curt nod. "And…" He inhaled slowly through his mouth, expelling air from his lungs with the next few, hopeful words. "There will be water there?"

The stranger toyed with the edges of his turban, looking off to the side. "Some," he replied vaguely, trying to sound convincing. It felt to Haru that just that one word was an exaggeration and that the stranger did not know whether to disappoint Haru beforehand or after he had realized there was very little water after all. Either way was equally disheartening.

His sigh was faint, carried away by a rare breeze passing by, before the air stilled and thickened around them once more.

"It'll be enough to keep us going," the stranger added hastily, with a quick glance at Haru, as if he could somehow hear his thoughts. One look at Haru was probably more than enough to guess what he was thinking; his disgruntlement had to be written all over his face. He made no attempt to hide it. "And, who knows, the sultan might feel generous and let us have some more this year."

A spark of interest lit his eyes. "The sultan?"

It might have been Haru's imagination playing tricks on him, but for a moment he thought he saw the stranger's cheerful expression darken.

"Oh - yes," he confirmed. "He rules over Sayli, along with its adjoining towns." As if he had suddenly just remembered something, he blinked and angled his head to look down at Haru. "Now that I think about it… Kahsald included, I think," he said, and Haru could tell that the smile this time was forced. A hint of bitterness lurked at the edges of his words. "He owns quite a bit of land."

The blurred edges of the closest buildings to them sharpened. The ground underneath their feet gradually smoothened and turned to worn paths. "So, he keeps all the water for himself?" Haru finally said. Just saying the word made his craving for water increase until it was almost unbearable.

"More or less," the man mumbled. One of his shoulders raised in a half-hearted shrug. "Although, I suppose… you can't really blame him for, you know, being the way he is."

Haru waited for an explanation. It came to him after a moment, hesitantly, as if the man was still struggling to recollect his thoughts. "I don't remember the day it happened," he said as they entered through the gates. "I was too young then... but… I heard that he had never been the same since - "

"You're back early!" A rough voice cut across the man's words. Haru looked away from him and saw another man - squat, dark, and burly-looking. Said man turned his face to the side and spat a wad of phlegm on the ground. The slimy bit shone against the dust.

The camel released a wet burp and a dribble of urine, bits of dark yellow splattering the ground near their feet.

Haru looked away and tried not to make a face.

"Yes, I think I'll have to make the trip some other time…"

The little man waddled up to them and squinted unblinkingly at Haru. "Never mind that," he barked at the green-eyed man, still not taking his eyes off Haru. "What do you have here?"

Haru stared back down at him for a moment, then looked away. _He probably doesn't have water, either._

"Scrawny one, isn't he? Friend of yours?"

_Yes, best friends with someone I don't even know the name of._

"Someone I met outside of town," the man gave a brief explanation, already steering Haru away. The camel turned as well and plodded along beside them. "See you later," he tossed over his shoulder, smiling apologetically. "I'm taking him back now. He needs some rest."

"Yeah, yeah," the short man said, waving a hand dismissively. "Later."

"Sorry about that," the stranger told Haru once they were out of earshot. "That was one of my few regular customers around here."

Haru made a noncommittal noise in his throat.

Other than that one man, they did not run into anyone else. The town was far quieter than Haru had thought it would be, but it hardly mattered what it was like. Haru did not intend on staying long - a few days at most, he guessed - and planned to leave as soon as possible. The apparent lack of water and knowing that a journey to Kahsald was still not impossible only made him want to move on all the more.

After much wandering around the narrow alleys and down wider paths, they arrived at the shop. It was a small place; shabby, drab, and mud-colored, but still in a considerably better condition than most of the other buildings Haru had seen so far. Vines wound along the cracks in the bricks on the walls, creeping up and over the low roof. The man led the camel away, then returned moments later and took Haru around to the side of the shop. He released Haru again to open the door, leaving him to stumble over to the wall of the shop and slump against it. He pressed the back of his legs to the bricks.

"Feel free to stay as long as you'd like," the stranger told him, pushing the door open. He gestured at the interior. "It's not much, but that's better than nothing, right?" His lips curved in a light-hearted grin, the previous conversation about the scarce water seemingly forgotten. Haru, on the other hand, replayed it over and over again in his mind.

Something was nagging at the back of his mind. He brooded silently for a moment.

The shopkeeper must have sensed that something was bothering him. "What's wrong?"

"Why did you give me your water, if you knew that was all you had left?" Haru finally asked.

Again, he was shown that slight, gentle smile. "You needed it more than I did," the stranger said simply. "I couldn't just let you die out there."

Haru blinked.

"Come on in."

The stranger beckoned to him and went inside. Haru followed slowly, squinting in the dim light. As expected, it was far from spacious inside, but the tidiness made up for it. Neatly stacked piles of boxes stood in one corner. A shelf on one wall held jugs and cups of various shapes and designs. Sunlight filtered in through the opening on the other side, which Haru assumed was the front of the shop, where customers would approach from the outside should they want to purchase anything.

He put one hand on the wall. The cool surface was nice for a change. "It's not that bad," he commented quietly.

For the first time since meeting him, Haru heard the stranger's laughter. It was quick and bright, just like his smiles - as expected. "Why, thank you."

"No." Haru looked up at an especially interesting-looking goblet on one side of the shelf, then allowed his gaze to drift to the next. "I should have said this before, but… I should… be the one thanking you, uh…"

The stranger glanced back over his shoulder and smiled. "You can call me Makoto."

"Nanase." He gave his name after a short pause. "Haruka Nanase. Thanks, Makoto."

Makoto just smiled.

* * *

_(__**Semi-unrelated-kind-of-spoiler A/N:**__ That last episode. That Rinharu-ness and then that whole 'NEVER' scene at the end. I could go on forever about this but just… yeah. I'm glad that Haru reacted to that the way he did (shows he cares!) but how he reacted to it just broke my heart. A SWIMMING ANIME IS NOT SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME FEEL THIS WAY. Man, I love them. And those swimming turns. I really like watching those for some reason. My feels are all over the place.)_


	3. The Second Day

Haru blinked drowsily at the ceiling. His eyelashes were heavily coated with crust and his throat burned every time he swallowed. A square of sunlight blazed on his face, and with a tired groan, he rolled away into the equally stifling shadows.

_Where is this?_

"Haru?" A voice that Haru thought he had heard somewhere before sounded from outside. Feet tapped gently on the floor and the voice drifted closer. "Are you awake? I've got breakfast ready for you."

"Leave me alone," he croaked, but the other did not seem to have heard. All smiles and noisy clattering, a man with merry green eyes and ruffled hair barged into the room. In his hands he held a tray, a plate and the tiniest cup Haru had ever seen sitting neatly on top of it.

"Good morning, Haru."

_Oh…_ Sluggishly, eyelids still drooping with the weight of sleepiness, Haru searched his mind for the man's name. It took him a moment to remember. _He's… Makoto. And this is… his shop. I'm in a room behind it. Right._

"It's Haru_ka_, or just Nanase," he mumbled into his sheets, burying his head into the cocoon it formed, curling an arm and a leg tighter around the light fabric. Makoto's continuous chatter, quiet and echoing in the back of his mind, slowly lulled Haru back to sleep.

Then he heard something that stood out from the rest of the incessant jumble of words. "...you don't like it, but can I still call you Haru? It sounds so much nicer, and it's pretty cute, don't you think?"

"No."

"Don't be like that, Haru," he laughed, and Haru felt the sheets being pulled away from him.

"Let go. And like I said, _don't_ call me…" The sheets slipped from his fumbling fingers and Haru's eyes snapped open in annoyance. Makoto tossed the sheets aside.

"At least get up and eat something," he urged, holding a hand out for Haru to take. An irritated groan building in Haru's dry throat, he grasped Makoto's hand and allowed himself to be pulled up into a sitting position.

His torso was still covered. The black shirt he usually wore exposed his abdomen, Haru was well aware. He looked down.

"Did you change my clothes for me?" Instead of his usual clothing, a white tunic hung loosely over his starved frame. His gaze drifted further down. His pants were his own. He almost heaved a sigh of relief. To help someone get their dirt-ridden shirt changed so that they would not have to sleep in their own filth could be considered thoughtful. Pants were a different matter.

"You were out like a light, and your clothes were dirty, so…"

"Oh." He slid forward, resting his bare feet on the ground and his hands on the edges of the bed. "Is that water?"

Makoto reached for the tray, which he had set on the floor beside them, carefully retrieving the cup from it. "Here you go," he said, passing it to Haru's awaiting hands. Haru downed it in one gulp and heaved a massive sigh. It was hardly enough, but he said nothing. _It's not as if he can do anything about it._

Makoto handed him the plate next. On it was a single loaf of slice of flattened bread.

"I was thinking of taking you out around town today," Makoto began as Haru took half-hearted bites out of the bread. It made him feel even thirstier than before.

"Sure."

"I could try selling some of my things while we're out, too."

"Those cups and jugs?" Haru guessed.

Makoto nodded.

"Why do you have those? There's nothing to fill them with."

"I was hoping that someday, there will be enough water to fill them all." Makoto smiled. "Kind of silly, isn't it?"

Haru shrugged. "I could help you." He swallowed. "If you need me to."

"Really?" Makoto's eyes widened with joy, then concern. "Are you sure? You're not too tired or anything?"

"I'm fine." _Just thirsty_, he thought, which was worse than any level of exhaustion.

"Great!"

Haru could not figure out why Makoto seemed so happy about that.

* * *

"Charge them this much for each," Makoto said, raising his palm for Haru to see. In it sat two fat golden coins, glinting in the sunlight. "Don't be too pushy, okay? And if they want it but can't afford it, it's okay if you…"

"I get it," he said, and tugged on the handle of the basket. Haru had insisted that he would rather walk around by himself, and although it took a while, Makoto finally relented and agreed. Makoto let go and Haru turned around, impatient to get going.

"I'll see you later, then," Makoto called after him. Without turning back to face him, Haru lifted his free hand in a vague wave and hurried onward.

The streets here were narrow, but there were no crowds that he had to push past and for that Haru was glad. Dust rose with every step, tickling his nose and drawing out the occasional sneeze.

It was a shadowy town, not exactly easy to find his way around, but it also meant that the sun was not beating down on him every minute of the day.

After what felt like hours of wandering aimlessly around the alleys and past silent houses, he finally saw his first potential customer.

"Hey, you. Buy this." Haru thrust the ornate cup toward the pedestrian, moving his body to block his way.

The man barely gave it so much as a second glance. "I don't want it."

"Sure you do. Look how pretty it is."

"I don't give a damn how 'pretty' it is."

"You won't find another one like this."

"I don't want it." The man tried to move away, but Haru sidestepped and refused to budge when the man glared at him.

"Come on. It's cheap. You'll regret not buying it."

"How much?"

"Just a cup of water."

The man first gave him an incredulous look, before his brows knitted back into a disdainful frown. He spat at Haru's feet. "Cheap, my ass." With that said, he stormed off, kicking up dust with his outraged steps. Haru watched him go.

"No luck," Haru told Makoto when they met up at the shop later that day. Makoto had managed to sell about half of the goods he had brought with him this time. Every single one of Haru's remained in their places in the basket, save for the one that had tumbled out in Haru's haste to catch up with a potential buyer. When he went back for it later, he could not find it anywhere.

As good-natured as Makoto seemed to be, Haru would not have been surprised if he gave him a good tongue-lashing right there and then.

"Maybe it's better if we only sell from the store… I probably wouldn't have bought anything if some merchant hassled me about it, either." Makoto grinned. "Well, we learned something from this, at least!"

Haru tilted his face upward, resting the back of his head on the wall. A warm breeze entered through the gap in the wall at the front of the store and brushed by his cheek. "You're only pretending to not be mad at me, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"I…" To say that he cared very much was a lie, but prickles of guilt stabbed at him everytime he thought about how much of a failure he had been today. Not to mention, they still did not have any more water than they did this morning. Less, now, he reminded himself, running a finger along the rim of the cup on the ground beside him. It was more likely than not that this cup would be his last today. A bead of water clung to his fingertip and he put it to his mouth, running his tongue along the moist skin. The diminishing water supply frightened him more than anything else. It was so difficult to make a cup of water last as long as possible, but he refrained from gulping all of it down immediately anyway. "I messed it up. There's no way you're actually…"

Makoto's face showed only utter confusion.

"Never mind." Haru would just have to make it up to him some other way, but if Makoto honestly was not irked by it, then all the better.

"I'm not _mad_, Haru," he said. "I wouldn't be angry at you for that!"

"Good, then."

Makoto's arched eyebrows lifted even higher and his lips parted in a laugh, which turned suddenly into a cough. "Ah - excuse me, it's dusty - actually, I'm glad that you agreed to help me with this. I think it made it a lot more fun."

Haru returned to tracing the outline of the cup.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you more water," Makoto added a moment later, nodding at the cup that Haru kept so possessively by his side. "It's just… well, you know. We don't have much."

"You said something about a sultan before." Haru worded it like a simple statement, but the question lingered within his words.

Makoto only gazed thoughtfully at something in the distance outside. "Yes," he said finally.

"And that he's the reason you lack water."

"Yes."

"And…" Here it was, the last part to what Haru remembered of their interrupted conversation last time. "That something happened to him." He lifted the cup to his lips and sipped once. The tepid water soothed his throat as it went down. He made himself wait before the next sip of water.

Makoto's smile was sad_. _"He lost loved ones."

"How?"

"The family was out on what was supposed to be a short trip across the desert. A sandstorm hit and they were separated. Those that were still with him took him back. The others never showed up."

Now it was Makoto's turn to run a finger around the silver of his cup. "His father was among the ones that didn't make it." His eyes, when they met Haru's, were dark with pity.

_To feel sadness even for someone like that… He's incredible, _Haru thought.

"I think his grief was too much to bear, especially for a child. It… turned to hatred, and now…" Makoto gestured vaguely around. "This."

"I'm going to go talk to him."

Makoto blinked. "What?"

Haru had been considering it for a while, and he could not have been more certain now that was what he wanted to do. "We don't have much water. He does. I'll go talk to him."

Makoto's face twisted with unease and uncertainty. "You shouldn't… He's not someone you can just _talk_ to. It might get you killed!"

"It might."

"Even if it didn't, he probably won't listen - he's still grieving - "

Haru watched the water glisten in the last of the afternoon light. The sun was still so strong then that it turned even Makoto's tan face a shade redder. "I know, Makoto."

Makoto looked like he still wanted to protest, but eventually he let out a sigh and said, "When are you going?"

"Soon. I haven't decided yet."

Makoto smiled helplessly and before Haru could react, he had reached over and tousled Haru's hair. "I guess I can't stop you," he said. "Promise you won't just sneak off in the middle of the night, though. I'll see you off, at least."

"Yeah." Haru resisted the urge to push his hand away and looked off to the side.

Their brief moment of silence was shattered by the sound of children shouting outside. "Stop it!" A shrill voice pierced Haru's eardrum - and underneath that, he heard something very much like the splashing of water. Another child laughed.

Haru sat upright and twisted around to peer out.

A wave of water splattered over the ground, drenching a little boy nearby. The two children squealed; the one splashed with water ran toward the one with the bucket, tiny fists flailing.

Haru scrambled up on the ledge, the skin along his neck and ears burning, his jaws clenched. He was beginning to shake.

"_Haru!_" Makoto shouted in alarm, leaping up from his stool and toward Haru. Haru had one leg outside and was about to run off toward the two when Makoto grabbed him and dragged him back inside.

"Let me go," Haru demanded, nails digging into his palms as he fought to be free. Makoto's arm, wound around the underside of his shoulders, tightened their hold. "I'm going to _kill _them."

"Look, Haru - let me handle it, alright?"

"_I'll drown them in all the water they're wasting, those little shi - "_

"Hey, you two!" Makoto called, managing a warm smile when the two boys glanced over. They took one look at Haru and fled, the bucket clanging noisily as it bounced against one's legs with every step.

"I didn't think you were the type to - hey!" The moment that Makoto thought it would be safe to let Haru go, he wriggled free and scrambled out.

There was no way he was going to let all that water go to waste.

* * *

Haru rapped sharply on the door to Makoto's room, then lowered his hand to the handle. It was not late in the night, but it was possible that Makoto had already fallen asleep. Haru himself would have gone off to bed had it not been for his final decision.

"I'm coming in," he said, and without waiting for permission, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. Squinting in the darkness, he slowly wound his way around the small room by trailing his hand across the wall, stopping when his knee bumped against the side of the bed.

"Where do you keep all your candles or whatever it is you use for light?" Haru muttered, taking a step back and blinking several times, trying to adjust to the darkness. His hand roamed the air for a moment then came to rest on a stool by the bed. Dragging it out underneath him, he sat down on it and looked to the side, even though there was nothing to see there. "I came to tell you that I'm leaving tomorrow, first thing in the morning. I can prepare the things I need by myself, so…"

He swallowed. "I came to say goodbye."

Makoto was silent.

"And… to thank you, again. I'm… glad you found me in the desert." It was a little difficult to force the words out, so unused to expressing gratitude as he was. But if anyone deserved gratitude and appreciation, it was Makoto. Haru hoped he understood, as he always seemed to understand.

Still he did not say anything. Haru wished and was apprehensive to see his expression. _There's no reason for him to be upset, though, is there? It's my decision, not his. Why should he even care?_

Fed up with him being uncharacteristically silent, Haru turned back to Makoto and scooted a little closer. "Makoto?"

He leaned over and reached out to shake Makoto's arm, annoyed by the lack of response, but his hand stopped in midair, hovering above the bed. It began to tremble, so much that Haru felt the chatter in his teeth.

"Oi, Makoto."

He forced his arm to move and pulled back the thin sheets. The whites of his eyes expanded and his ears were full of the deafening pounding of his blood, but even that was not loud enough to drown out his shout.

"_MAKOTO!_"

* * *

_(A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. I was reading my other Free! fic and that only made me want to write about Rin and Haru more. -mustresisturge- (Maybe I'll write another story about them while working on this.)_


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